Wednesday, July 6, 2011

An Angelic Stranger...

I take the Airport bus everyday, to and fro. Over two years of time, I have developed a strange friendship with the conductors and the drivers. A friendship where none of us know each other's name, and greet each other with only smiles, acknowledging that we know each other.

So last night I was waiting for my bus around 9, all alone under a tree. The bus was late and it added to my frustration of being an object to look at, for the passers by (also one of those times when I have thoughts of buying a bike by the way). The bus came and was filled till the driver's cabin. As soon as I got into the bus, the driver gestured me to come closer to the cabin and said something which I got to hear in pieces, as I was rushing to get space! Now this driver has never ever acknowledged my presence or never has smiled at me. I assumed he asked me to stand after a certain point (as the bus stop) as another driver had asked me to do so.

At the end of the ride as I stood to get down at my stop, the driver called me and asked me what I did I get from what he said at the beginning of the ride. I told him my assumption and he nodded his head in disbelief! He said, "I asked you to come closer to the cabin as there were men standing near the door. And I don't want you to wait for the bus at any other spot than the one where you were standing. It is a very safe spot with lights around and the police commissioner's office right there. Stand there everyday. Nowhere else."

And I was touched by his concern. A concern that a complete stranger showed with a fatherly authority. The look of concern on his face, in his tone, in his talk touched my heart. How could it not? And my faith in humanity grew stronger. My faith in people like these, who make the world a better place to live in. It is complete strangers like these, who assure me that there are angels that I meet everyday :)

yes, travelling by bus during college years i too developed an strange bond with my regular bus driver and conductor..and found that these people are very good human beings contrrary to popular belief!!!